Most Recent Reviews
Review of Disney Dining Plan
Reviewed by abipes07 Review Date: 09/03/2016
Rating: (10) Recommended
Disney Dining Plan Review – I was recently at Walt Disneyworld and utilized the 2016 Dining Plan. With this plan we had 1 quick service, 1 table service, and snack each day of our stay. I would recommend these plans for anyone who is planning on staying at a Disney Resort and planning on visiting the parks. During our stay we were able to utilize the table service meals to have meals with Disney character’s. This was the highlight of our trip and my children loved meeting all of the characters. In addition, having prepurchased our meals it allowed us to better control our budget and plan out how much money we needed to bring with for the trip. The only out of pocket meal planning we had to budget for was money for tips. When deciding if these plans are right for you consider the types of meals you plan on eating and where you would like to eat.
Pros:
ease of use, better planned budgetCons:
noneReview of Nine Dragons - China - Epcot
Reviewed by johnp Review Date: 09/03/2016
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
Just ate there about 2 hours ago. Food was OK, waiter was responsive. The hostesses were terrible. Be forewarned that if you DON'T have a reservation in a EMPTY restaurant, despite it being nearly empty, you will be seated near a large loud group at an adjacent table because you dared walk into the restaurant without a reservation. You can make your own assumptions, but we had it happen at Epcots Hacienda San Angel the night before. Half empty and they put us in a back corner, the only place in the restaurant where you could NOT see the Illuminations show from the restaurant. They were quite smug about not being able to seat us in a better area. Back to 9 Dragons - When our meals arrived, the waiter was corteous enough to move us further away to a quieter area, after speaking to a hostess, who just shrugged her shoulders when he spoke to her. To verify the maliciousnes of the hostesses, my daughter noted that as we left, none of the hostesses bid us goodbye, but one simply rolled her eyes at us. Well, certainly not the first time an antisocial hostess treated us like crap. Negative 1 star except for the waiter, who gets 5 stars. Food was 3 stars. Avoid this place like the plague.
Pros:
waiter was responsiveCons:
watresses were inattentive, aloof, snobbyReview of Art of Animation Resort (Value Resort)
Reviewed by MinnieMouseMama Review Date: 09/03/2016
Rating: (8) Recommended
We booked two rooms in the Mermaid sections with a bit of trepidation. Many reviews said the walk was far, and that the rooms are small. We had low expectations. Our request for adjoining rooms was honored, and we were close enough to transportation. We timed the walk to the bus at under 8 minutes when no one was in a hurry. Having stayed at all the Value and Moderate resorts (and a couple Deluxe) the space did not bother us. We use the room to sleep and shower. Our youngest is 10 and would prefer to stay in the parks all day weather permitting. I must disclose that the adjoining rooms were a benefit for a party of 5 and allowed more breathing room. The theme of the space is just do darn cute. My princess hating husband even admitted that it "wasn't too bad!" The Big Blue Pool was a hit with all and made a huge impression with the under water music. Pool bar guy was great. The cars pool is cute but very, very small. Not sure what happened there. Mousekeeping was sufficient. The room was rather clean, but due to mold allergies I did request a VIP cleaning, so that may have helped. Please note: for our reservation dates 2 rooms was cheaper than a suite. Run the numbers. For the value dollar, this was a win.
Pros:
price pointCons:
noneReview of Skipper Canteen
Reviewed by MinnieMouseMama Review Date: 09/03/2016
Rating: (9) Recommended
Full disclosure: we are adventurous eaters. My 10 year old dd likes curry and Ethiopian food. DD age 16 likes pad thai and chia seeds. We found this location a delight. In fact we had hoped for more spice. Not heat. Spice. Flavor! We find traveling at Disney a culinary bore. (Does Mickey hate garlic?) Skipper Canteen was a treat. The arapes appetizer is more than enough for an entree. The mac and cheese is not Stouffer's out of the freezer section. Steamed dumplings needed more ginger but the dipping sauce was nice. The steak salad was "good enough" with plenty of protein. The soda options were fun. (No Beverly?) The only other table service location in MK we can stand is Be Our Guest. This was a welcomed surprise.
Pros:
interesting menuCons:
not enough flavorReview of Captain's Grille Lunch/Dinner
Reviewed by Tink0502 Review Date: 09/04/2016
Rating: (10) Recommended
We ate dinner here on our last day of vacation. Very pleasant experience.
Let me say first, our waitress (Leah from Wisconsin) was delightful. Very efficient and pleasant. We started with the romaine/bacon salad, which we shared as an appetizer. It was delicious and very generous! I had the crab cakes and my husband had the NY strip steak, both of which were very good and priced nicely for the quality!
It is a quieter atmosphere than many other dining places and a good get-away from the parks. Highly recommended!
Pros:
quiet, quality food, very nice presentationCons:
—Review of Blaze Fast-Fire'd Pizza
Reviewed by cmoranski Review Date: 09/06/2016
Rating: (9) Recommended
Finally a decent pizza in Florida. We tried a plain pizza as it was a trial lunch. We are a little shy about trying pizza since we moved here it has all been so awful. We were pleasantly surprised at this thin crispy foldable crust. Sauce was delicious and the choice of toppings extensive. Beer and soda and pizza prices were reasonable. We shared the pizza but DH says next time he wants his own. Boxes are supplied for takeout. It's a little noisy, hectic as they call the names and people mill around waiting. Tight sweaty but quite a bit inside and out, otherwise we would have given it a 10.
Pros:
Very old pizzaCons:
A little hecticReviewed by Michelle Norris 67 Review Date: 09/07/2016
Rating: (10) Recommended
Stayed in 2 deluxe studios first week of August. Absolutely loved it. Nice quiet place to get away from the bustle of the parks. The seating for the quick service has been expanded. Even though we were in close proximity to the construction, we were never bothered by the noise. Will definitely stay here again.
Pros:
Quiet, proximity to MKCons:
—Review of Typhoon Lagoon
Reviewed by hlmclem722 Review Date: 09/11/2016
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
TL, was a one and done for us! (Blizzard, however, gets a 10) First, typhoon has a huge bee problem at/near all food areas. All drink areas were out of ice. Eating was stressful. My kids were so scared of the bees it really took from the enjoyment of our day. Read about the wave pool before we went. My kids 15, 14 and 6 knew it had a rough surface and needed to be careful. The first wave, 14 year old got knocked over flat and I had to watch her get tossed to shore. She looked liked she was in a cat fight, all scratched up. Wasn't even that far out in the pool. Someone lost their shorts. I felt so bad for them. Needed family bathroom for my son(6) never found it. Slides were just ok. If deciding between Typhoon and Blizzard Beach, choose Blizzard!
Pros:
Visited 8/22/2016Cons:
Bees, Wave Pool, Family RestroomsReviewed by Dis05 Review Date: 09/11/2016
Rating: (4) Not Recommended
My family of 5 have been coming to POR (since its the only Moderate resort that allows for 5 guests) for 15 years. This is the first year that I've felt the need to post concerns about the resort. Overall, its still a beautiful resort. The additional activities they've added in the last few years (outdoor movies, campfires, activities by the pool) rival the delux resort and are excellent additions. However, this resort is ALWAYS at or near full capacity, and, simply put, is not staffed to support this # of guests. Disney seriously needs to reconsider its quickservice dining. Although a moderate resort, it is in now way 'inexpensive;' and having to fight for food AND a table every morning does NOT help to start the day out on a happy, relaxed note. Every meal here is stressful and immediately puts the entire family is a negative mood. Time to upgrade/expand, Disney, and I'm not the first one to comment on this. This feedback has been coming in for years; either decrease the # of guests at a time, or expand the dining hall!
Grounds: this is a beautifully themed resort. But outside our room, in the landscaping, the same wrappers, water bottles, and general garbage were in the bushes for our entire stay. That is simply "un-Disney" like, and I've never experienced this at this resort before.
Housekeeping: on 2 occasions we couldn't find a table in the cafeteria, so we brought food back to our room. The garbage was left, neatly, for the housekeeping to pick up the next day, WITH a nice tip. The garbage and tray were still there when we came back. I don't think the sheets were changed during our entire stay (10 days), and the room was never vaccumed.
Overall, the hotel was not up to its usual 'Disney' standards, and, I think, time to look for a new place to stay. Unfortunate, as we've always loved staying on Disney property, but that's a lot of $$ to spend for service I'd expect at any chain hotel that would cost 1/2 this amount.
Signed, loyal but disappointed.
Pros:
Improved bus service, accomodating staff, activitiesCons:
Housekeeping, grounds, cafeteriaReview of Grand Floridian Resort (Deluxe Resort)
Reviewed by Disneyhenry Review Date: 09/14/2016
Rating: (10) Recommended
We stayed at GF for 3 nights after our 14 day EBPC, in my room was DH, DS (age 7) and myself. My sis traveled with us along with her DH and DD (age 7). I paid for a Lagoon View, she had reserved a Garden View. Upon check in we were both told we had adjoining room (she arrived 3 hours after me) but come to find out we were in 2 different building, I had no problem with her pixie dust upgrade to a Lagoon View, until I check in and looked at a tree! I called the front desk and said that I was disappointed in the fact that I was looking at a tree and my sis was looking at the 7 sea lagoon. The gal was very confused because she said she was looking at our reservation and we had adjoining rooms, after research she found out they gave my sis the wrong room. The Cast Member then upgraded us to a MK view in the same building as my sis - needless to say I was very happy. DH, my Brother in Law and myself fell in love with this resort, the walking distance to Poly, Monorail to MK and easy access to Epcot. The layout was perfect, I was a little worried that I wouldn't like this resort but it is now my favorite. We rented a Cabana for an afternoon (only GF and CR have Cabana's) where we had great service, relaxed and watched some football while the kids played in the pool. They loved the pool games and the slide was excellent!
Room layout was nice, bathroom stocked with plenty of towels, soaps, lotions and robes.
1st night we had a screaming toddler off and on for 2 hours, not really the resorts fault, but messed with my sleep. I loved the beds, DH thought they were to soft.
The quick service menu was not as large as CS or WL, but we made it work. However the day we went to check out we headed down at 5:45 am to eat breakfast only to find out they only had pizza until 6:30, with so many early flights I was really surprised they didn't start breakfast at 5 am.
Overall I will give this resort a perfect 10! Looking forward to staying there again, but I promise my DS that we will stay at CR next trip.
